mouths. The depth of the bar varies of course with
the seasons and with the tides.

But what is conclusive is that in 1525 the Spaniards founded the city
Nuestra Señora de la Victoria, on the site of Potonchan. In 1646, it had
a cura and a vicar, and counted 2000 parishioners, and the abundance of
its cacao harvest is especially noted.[7-2] At some later day it was
attacked and destroyed by filibusters; but the remains of the church and
the cemetery are still visible at Dolores, and pilgrimages are yet made
to them on certain holy days by the faithful of the parish of Frontera,
on the opposite shore. This record places the scene of the conflict
beyond all doubt.

_Condition of the Natives._--The various accounts agree in describing
the province as highly cultivated and thickly settled. Maize and cacao
were the principal crops. Temples and edifices are repeatedly referred
to. A few years afterwards (1524) Cortes traversed Tabasco some miles
inland, and has left a description of its industries. The people were
active merchants, and the list of their commodities which he gives
includes cacao, maize, cotton, dye-stuffs, feathers, salt, wax, resins,
paints, gum copal, pottery, beads, shells, precious stones, woven stuffs
and gold of low alloy. The richer citizens had numerous wives and female
slaves, which accounted for the rapid increase in population.[8-1] The
chronicler Gomara furnished a long list of the native articles which
Grijalva brought back in 1519 from Potonchan and the neighboring coast.
They reveal a high degree of artistic culture, and leave no doubt but
that the tribes of the vicinity were as developed in the arts as any in
America.

_Ruined Cities._--Writing about 1875, Mr. H. H. Bancroft says: "On the
immediate coast (of Tabasco) some large towns and temples were seen by
the early voyagers; but I have no information that relics of any kind
have been discovered in modern times."[8-2]

In fact, although it is doubtful if there are any ruins directly on the
coast, there are many but a short distance inland. Those at
Comalcacalco[TN-1] have been figured and described by M. Charnay, and
his work is so well known that a reference to it is sufficient.

At the locality called Pedrito, about fifteen miles from the mouth of
the Tabasco, there are many mounds, embankments, piles of pottery and
other signs of an ancient town. Among the relics is a large circular
stone, "like a round table," with figures in relief engraved on its
sides, and with holes drilled in its surface, in which pegs or wooden
nails are said to have been fitted.[8-3] About ten miles north of this
spot is another group of mounds on the left bank of the Rio de San Pablo
y San Pedro. Doubtless many others exist unknown in the dense forests.

_The Ruins of Cintla._--The ruins of Cintla were visited and surveyed by
the late Dr. C. H. Berendt in March and April, 1869, and, so far as I
know, neither before nor since have they been seen by any archæologist.
Nor can I learn that Dr. Berendt ever published the results of his
researches. The only reference I can find to them in any of his
published writings is in a paper which he read, July 10th, 1876, before
the American Geographical Society, and which was published in its
Bulletin, No. 2, for that year. The title of this address was, "Remarks
on the Centers of Ancient Civilization in Central America and their
Geographical Distribution." He certainly prepared a much more extended
paper especially on Cintla, with illustrations and maps, fragments of
which I have found among the documents left at his death; but if
published, I have been unable to trace it. Nor can I discover what
became of the considerable archæological collection which he made at
Cintla and brought away with him, a memorandum about which is among his
papers.

The passage in his address before the Geographical Society touching on
Cintla is as follows: